Palin's secret CSU speaking fee sparks outcry

POLITICS

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Sarah Palin speaks at the "Showdown in Searchlight" tea party rally in Searchlight, Nev., Saturday, March 27, 2010.

Sarah Palin speaks at the "Showdown in Searchlight" tea party rally in Searchlight, Nev., Saturday, March 27, 2010.

Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP

Palin's secret CSU speaking fee sparks outcry

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Sarah Palin is expected to raise nearly $200,000 for an appearance on a California State University campus in June. But the school foundation hosting the $500-a-plate event won't say what they are paying her, or even how much the party will cost - and that has angered a San Francisco lawmaker who is using the opportunity to push his bill for greater transparency by public university foundations.

"The CSU should immediately disclose how much money is being diverted from students to pay Sarah Palin's exorbitant speaking fees," said state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who has been trying to pass a law that would extend the California Public Records Act to those foundations.

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"At a time when students are struggling to afford an education at CSU, I would hope that spending potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars on a guest speaker for a black-tie gala would be low on the priority list," Yee said in a statement issued Monday.

Money magnet

Although the terms of Palin's speaking contract won't let foundation officials say how much she's being paid, they say she's a money magnet whose keynote address for the school's 50th anniversary will bring in thousands of dollars to the foundation.

"Everything we do is funded with private money," said Matt Swanson, president of the CSU Stanislaus Foundation, one of 87 foundations set up to benefit the 23 state university campuses. "Our goal is to raise a nice chunk of change - $100,000 to $200,000 net after costs."

Ticket sales, he told one news outlet, have been brisk.

Like most campus foundations, the one at Stanislaus uses the money it raises privately to pay professors' salaries in the form of endowed chairs and to finance student scholarships.

Handling the event on the campus side is Jacob McDougal, director of alumni affairs, who said he did not know whether it was Palin, the foundation or the university that had written the secrecy clause into Palin's contract or even whether past speakers had had them.

Lips sealed on cost

Nor would he say how much the entire event is expected to cost.

"That's another way of asking about the (Palin) fee," McDougal said.

The former Republican vice presidential candidate's speaking engagements are handled by a company called the Washington Speakers Bureau, which did not return calls Monday. Palin received $100,000 for her keynote address at last month's Tea Party convention in Nashville.

"Being more transparent seems like a no-brainer for a foundation associated with a campus," Taiz said. "Money travels back and forth between them. On the one hand, the foundation wants to declare itself private, but on the other hand, it's inextricably connected to the university."

Meanwhile, the selection of Palin as speaker for the fundraiser has generated controversy. One professor started a Facebook group called "Sarah Palin, Terrible Choice for 50th Anniversary of CSU Stanislaus," some students have threatened to protest and at least one local businessman wants the invitation withdrawn.

"It just seems like an odd choice for a university," Taiz said. "If you want a moneymaker, why not Paris Hilton? She has about as much academic value and would probably bring even more money, if that's the goal."

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